Some encounter resistance, while older ones face new residents with different attitudes.
By James Peters
Contributing Writer
Several of the most popular sessions at the recent statewide preservation conference of Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI), held in Joliet, focused on existing – and proposed – historic districts throughout Illinois.
"Districts have been the heart and soul of historic preservation," noted Vince Michael, the director of the graduate program in historic preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yet, over time, there has been an "ebb and flow" between preservation efforts and other neighborhood advocacy work, said Michael, who is writing his doctoral dissertation on the district preservation movement over the past quarter century.
This battle between landmark preservation and neighborhood development can be seen in several of the recent controversies that have involved several historic districts in Illinois.
Local designation battles
The phenomenon of residential teardowns, once largely confined to suburban communities, has fully flowered in many of Chicago’s historic neighborhoods. Recent efforts to designate portions of the East Village and Sheffield communities as local landmark districts have sparked disputes among residents, preservationists, and developers. Window signs in both neighborhoods clearly demonstrate the split allegiances between landmark district supporters and opponents.
An effort to landmark a portion of Lincoln Park — commonly referred to as Sheffield — recently was tabled, following opposition. Ald. Vi Daley, who has supported the successful efforts to designate several areas in her 43rd Ward, including a long row of Victorian commercial buildings along Armitage Ave. and Halsted St., is investigating other potential landmark districts, including the Arlington-Deming neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Ald. Manuel Flores (1st) is supporting the landmark designation of hundreds of historic structures in the East Village, where many of the area’s late-19th century cottages and two flats are being torn down for multi-flat condo towers. The alderman sponsored a recent series of innovative public forums to deal with some of the misgivings — and, often, misinformation — that has dominated community discussions in recent months.
District boundary changes
Residents of the Northeast Evanston Historic District continue to be upset about a February 2004 legal settlement that caused the removal of nine of the district’s "contributing" structures. Eight of those buildings — mostly Queen Anne and Tudor Revival-style residences — are owned by Northwestern University, which had opposed creation of the district in 2000.
According to the out-of-court settlement, the university agreed to drop a lawsuit it had filed against Evanston. In exchange, the school paid the city $700,000, apparently to cover legal costs.
Residents fear this unique settlement will have a negative impact on other landmark districts, including several where developers are eying contributing buildings as potential development sites.
How do you define ‘scale’?
In May, the Chicago Plan Commission and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks’ Permit Review Committee both approved plans for a 72-story residential tower in Jewelers Row, a Chicago Landmark District. The glass structure would be built as a setback "addition" atop three six-story buildings dating to the late 19th century. The facades of the historic buildings, which are located at 21-35 S. Wabash St., would be restored to their original appearance.
LPCI had opposed the project, noting that the predominant building heights in the four square-block district do not exceed 250 feet – less than one third the height of the proposed condo tower. LPCI noted the dangerous precedent this project could have on other landmark districts, especially where underlying zoning densities are greater than the prevailing heights of the historic structures. The other groups testifying against the proposal were Friends of Downtown, Preservation Chicago, and the South Loop Neighbors.
Revising Owner-Consent
This controversial issue was the subject of a separate panel discussion at the statewide preservation conference. One featured community was Highland Park, whose City Council in April amended its landmark ordinance’s requirements for owner consent.
Previously, a majority vote was required from all of the property owners in a proposed landmark district. The new provisions call for a majority vote from those who have responded to the city’s request for owner consent — provided that a majority of the owners do respond. [LPCI believes that while this is an improvement in the Highland Park ordinance for designating districts, many suburban communities struggle with the ability to designate districts because of their strict owner consent requirements.]
Changing residents, changing attitudes
Existing landmark districts also face challenges in maintaining consistent design standards, particularly in light of changing demographics and increasing property values. As a result, "District Backlash" was the title of another session at LPCI’s recent statewide conference.
Ginny Gregory, secretary of the Rockford Historic Preservation Commission, discussed its experiences with long-established landmark districts, while resident Diane Gonzalez spoke about the conflicts between longtime residents of Chicago’s Old Town Triangle District – which was designated as a local landmark in 1977 – and some of the
new homeowners.
With property values climbing over $1 million for many of Old Town’s post-Fire of 1871 worker’s cottages, development pressures in this quaint neighborhood continue to mount. One recent proposal, which the city’s landmarks commission rejected, called for the demolition of two frame residences — both dating to the 1870s — and replacement by two taller masonry structures that the developer promised would look "more historic" than the modest cottages.
Some new residents, in an effort to find more living space, have begun to connect adjacent residences. The size, shape, and materials of those connections are a design review challenge. Meanwhile, the demand for larger building additions, new curb cuts (in a district that seldom had any driveways), and other modern amenities are testing the resolve of both the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and the Old Town Triangle Association — one of the city’s oldest neighborhood organizations.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Cornerstone, a quarterly publication of Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, issue of
July 2005. |
